The present invention generally relates to video game entertainment systems and methods, apparatus and systems that enhance the capabilities of hand-held game devices.
Modern day video game entertainment systems generally include two types of apparatus: (1) hand-held game consoles or devices and (2) video game consoles. Generally, hand-held game devices are portable and include a central processing unit that uses an operating system to manage and run various gaming applications. Although such devices are small enough to be carried in a user's coat pocket, their processing power is usually significant enough to allow them to support relatively complex games and display such games at a relatively high resolution. SONY's PLAYSTATION PORTABLE (PSP) is an example of one such hand-held game device. The terms “PLAYSTATION,” “PSP,” “PLAYSTATION PORTABLE,” and “SONY” are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. or Sony Corporation. It includes a large viewing screen, supports various multi-media applications and is connectable to Sony's PlayStation video game consoles. Given its processing power and many features, the PSP is regarded by many as the standard bearer among hand-held game devices.
Like the PSP, SONY's PLAYSTATION game consoles are also considered by many to be the standard bearer within the gaming industry. For example, these products employ cell processor technology, include large storage capacity (e.g., more than 20G) and come equipped to support various multimedia applications. Accordingly, these products are equipped to run complex gaming software at high speed and with high image resolution.
In order to meet the requirement that hand-held game devices be portable, control buttons used to operate such devices are usually provided on the face of the device. These control buttons typically do not include all the capabilities of stand alone game controllers typically used to operate a video game console.
While the additional capability of a stand alone game controller is not usually important for all games, some games are designed to take advantage of the additional functionality on such controllers. For example, some games, e.g., a racing game, provide feedback in the form of haptic information to a game controller to enhance the gaming experience to the user during play. Hand-held game devices, however, typically do not include such functionality. On the other hand, it may be desirable and of utility to develop games for hand-held devices that output haptic information.